As soon as Lisanna went to find Bickslow Elfman spun to the side, grabbing Evergreen's hands into his. He was about to express just how excited he was that they had just been nominated, together this time, when he noticed tears brimming in her eyes. It was something that he had been seeing frequently lately, but never in public like this.

"Ever?"

She took a deep, shuddering breath and moments later she had stood up and started to head out of the guild. Elfman stood to follow her, shrugging off Freed's hand as he tried to stop him and slamming through the doors. As soon as she had gotten out of everyone's line of sight she had started running, tears streaming behind her and Elfman had to speed up to finally place a hand on her shoulder and get her to stop.

"Evergreen. Talk to me. Please."

She hadn't turned around, hiding her face in her hands as she sobbed. Elfman pulled her close, snaking his arms around her waist as he hugged her from behind.

"What's the matter? We both got picked, didn't we? We'll get to training and…"

"No! We won't!"

Evergreen span around in his arms, trying to shrug him off but he wouldn't let her. She beat at his chest, growling as she spoke.

"Because I'm not partnering with you."

Elfman dropped his hands at that, staring down at her as he did. They stood in silence for a second, Evergreen wiping her tears on her hands and adjusting her glasses to keep her magic in check.

"What do you mean, Ever? Who are you partnering with?"

She shrugged, crossing her arms in front of her chest, refusing to look at him at all.

"I don't fucking know. But I don't want to hold you back."

Elfman looked at her, eyes softening and not knowing what to say. Evergreen looked up at him, hating the silence and the fact he hadn't shouted at her, hadn't agreed or done anything.

"I'm not strong enough for this, Elfman. You're the strongest of anyone in there and I don't want to drag you down with me."

Elfman lunged forward, pulling her into a crushing hug and making her jump in surprise as he buried his face in her hair. She waved her arms to try and retain her balance, before giving up and falling into his arms, raising hers to wrap around his back. There was no one around, it wouldn't hurt to show him a little affection. When he spoke it was muffled in her scalp, but she still heard it perfectly.

"Obviously someone thinks you're strong enough. And so do I. What do you say, Tink? We go train, and we kick some major arse next week. And no matter whether we win or lose we do it together, yeah? There's always next year."

Evergreen nodded, sniffling slightly as she finally buried her head in his chest. She never said it out loud, or even thought it often, but she really had chosen a decent guy for once.

Elfman was simply letting her hit him, none of the punches or kicks that connected doing much damage. She was taking breaks as and when she needed them, hands resting on her knees as she panted to get her breath back. Her hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail, and she was sweating despite the tank top and shorts she was wearing. Elfman threw her a bottle of water, smiling as she caught it and started to drink.

"Don't you need to do at least some training, Elf?"

He sat on the floor, leaning back onto his hands as he stared up at the sky and shook his head.

"Nah, we'll focus on you. You're so close to being back up to the strength you were before if we could just train a little more…"

His sentence trailed off as she narrowed her eyes at him. She wasn't anywhere close to the strength she was before Lin and they both knew it. They had struggled to pass the first round of the trials last year, and something told her they weren't going to get as lucky again this year. They both sat in silence for a moment, Ever trying to sip the water so she didn't make herself sick and Elfman just watching her. Once she had finished he stood to his feet, holding out a hand to pull her back into the fight.

"Come on, let's work your magic again. Give me a second to get into Lizardman and give me all you've got."

Laxus huffed as he watched from the sidelines of the clearing Elfman and Evergreen had claimed as a training arena. This wasn't going to do at all. What had the old man been thinking when he nominated Evergreen? Sure he had suggested it, but this was the year the stubborn git actually listened? She wasn't anywhere near strong enough to make S-Class this year, and it was just going to knock her confidence back. And this idiot wasn't helping any either.

Cracking his neck he allowed the electricity to flow through his body, each cell turning into lightning as he shot forward. Elfman could survive it plenty. He braced himself as he slammed into the other man, knowing that his Lizard man form was wickedly tough. Evergreen screamed as he flew the both of them into the air, and shouted down to her to assuage her fears.

"Don't worry, I'm just borrowing him a moment. I'll bring him back."

Evergreen crossed her arms over her chest, storming off to sit back down on an old tree stump. There was nothing she could do at this point, anyway.

Laxus flew a couple hundred meters away, far enough that she couldn't overhear what they were saying but close enough that he could still keep an ear out for if she got into any difficulties. Elfman struggled the whole way, but not even he could compete with Laxus in his lightning body. The Dragon Slayer toyed with dropping him from above the treeline but decided the flack he would get from Evergreen wasn't worth it. Shooting down to the floor he landed next to a tree, struggling to stop the electricity in him from arcing to the sap inside, before becoming corporeal again and relaxing back to lean against the bark. Elfman growled, magic covering him before he appeared back in his human form.

"What the fuck are you doing, Laxus?"

The Dragon Slayer didn't even give him the courtesy of looking him in the eye as he started to inspect his nails.

"Well what the fuck are you doing, Elfman?"

The Strauss brother threw his arms in the air, already fed up with this conversation. The relationship he had with Laxus was strained at best, someone who he put up with for the sake of Evergreen and not much else. Looking back he couldn't even remember the last time the two men spoke that wasn't just out of politeness or buffered by either of their respective families.

"I'm training Evergreen, what the fuck does it look like?"

Laxus scoffed, pushing away from the trunk he was leaning against and heading towards the younger man.

"It looks like you're mollycoddling her."

Elfman growled, crossing his arms as he stared down at the Dragon Slayer in anger.

"No, we're going at her own pace…"

"Her own pace isn't fast enough!"

Laxus started off shouting, before remembering just how close Evergreen was and lowered the volume before she heard what the two men were saying.

"You have a week to get her up to her previous strength, if not stronger. If you forgot I've known Evergreen since she was a child, and she pretends I can't but I can read her like a book. Right now she's feeling sorry for herself and isn't going to push herself so you are going to have to push her."

He accentuated his last point by poking the takeover mage in the middle of his chest, ignoring the scowl it got him.

"I don't want to push her too far and hurt her."

Laxus sneered, turning away to head back towards the clearing where he could hear Evergreen was starting to get impatient.

"Evergreen is used to being the only girl in a team full of men, and strong men at that. Think about it like this. Once all this is over and you've failed, because if you carry on like this you will fail, she will look back and realise just how much you babied her and blame you for the failure. She'll never forgive you. Now come on. The two of you are training against me for the rest of the day."

Elfman harrumphed, stomping after the Dragon Slayer before throwing out his arm to stop him.

"Why are you helping us, Laxus?"

The man stopped in his tracks, sighing before looking down at his feet. He stood in silence for a few seconds, before he spoke almost softly.

"Because you're not the only one who loves her, Elfman. Evergreen is like a little sister to me, and it fucking hurts to see her so weak when she once went up against Erza without even blinking."

Elfman stopped as well. He would be the first to admit he sometimes got jealous at the ties that the Raijinshuu all had. Sure, he had those bonds with his sisters and the whole of Fairy Tail was a family to him but he knew that he would never have friends like the four of them.

"Should you be doing this? Isn't it an unfair advantage?"

Laxus shrugged, starting back towards the arena now the silence had been broken.

"This whole thing is unfair, anyway. No one had to go through the same recovery process as she did. She lost her fucking sight. I'm just trying to level the playing field. Probably is best not to tell anyone else, though."

Evergreen jumped to the side and rolled as a bolt of lightning headed straight towards her, Elfman grunting as he took it to the chest. They had been training for hours now, and she had been starting to slow. Whereas Elfman had been kind to her throughout their training Laxus had no such qualms, and she rested her hands on her knees as she tried her hardest to recover in the short amount of time she had been given. Laxus had run forward to grapple with Elfman, but when he saw her panting at the side he let go and screamed.

"No, Evergreen, No! That was your opportunity right fucking there! While Elfman had me and my back was turned you should have hit me with everything you had. It won't help you when you're up against another team but if you're against one of the S Class it will be invaluable."

Evergreen huffed, building up her magic as her wings unfurled and she took to the air. This way she had the higher ground and her time in the Raijinshuu told her that was always an advantage in a fight. Of course, they were normally not fighting against Laxus going all out.

She felt the electricity crackle through the air before the attack hit, and screamed as the lightning coursed through her and she fell to the ground. Elfman growled slightly, but if she had expected any kind of sympathy from Laxus she was sorely disappointed.

"If I was Mira you would be dead right now. And don't you think for a second she's going to fall for the same stupid trick again."

Evergreen groaned as she tried to raise her head, before giving up and crashing it back down onto the floor.

"What if I just start crying? Do you think that would work?"

Laxus started laughing, realising that Evergreen actually did need a break now and turned his attention to Elfman. He was back in his Lizard Man form, so all of Laxus' attacks needed to be from range unless he wanted to be injured himself. Letting loose one of his roars he watched Elfman brace himself, before using the moment's respite to turn and look at the woman on the floor.

"Evergreen, I have seen you use the fact you're a woman to your advantage many times, but I have never thought you'd reduce yourself to crying."

Evergreen smiled, mustering just enough energy to turn onto her side to watch the two men. Elfman recovered from the shot, roaring as he ran forward, trying to throw a punch before Laxus caught his fist in his, twisting his arm around until it was pinned behind his back. Elfman grunted from the pain, shoving his one elbow backwards into Laxus' abdomen and making the Dragon Slayer let go. He cracked his knuckles a few times, stretching as the blonde man recovered himself.

"What if I start crying? Reckon that would stop Mira?"

Laxus paused for a second before he started laughing again. Standing up to his full height again he stretched out his arms, wanting to tease the man in front of him a little more before he attacked.

"Yes, Elfman, because that would be so manly."

Elfman growled deep in his throat, but Evergreen tapped her chin as she finally felt ready enough to pull herself up to sit down with her legs crossed.

"You know, that might actually work. I can see her stopping just long enough for us to get a few decent hits in… Lisanna too."

Laxus sighed. He really shouldn't be annoyed that they were actually planning, but this was just stupid.